Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 17 O C T O B E R 1 6 , 2 0 2 3 M I D C O A S T / D OW N E A S T "Without Dave, that would have been a lot harder," Carroll says. "He allowed us to accelerate." Accordion effect As with its other clients, Downeast sets its pro- duction schedule to meet Wyman's "accordion of demand," Whitney says. "One day they'll ship, say, 2,000 boxes. Another day they'll ship 50," he says. "We have to meet that accordion effect. at's what we're able to do with our schedule of production." Downeast now has four clients and conversa- tions with others are underway. Whitney recently attended seaweed-industry conference in Portland to offer production, packaging and shipping ser- vices. He's looking at companies in Europe and Asia desiring a presence in the U.S. "We can take containers and master packs and turn them into retail shippable packs," he says. His goal to provide more year-round work? With Whitney Wreath, he had about 15 year-round employees. Today, Downeast Packaging has about 30. And he's looking to grow. "We're really on the verge as a year-round com- pany," he says. Bragg says another economic development plus is the potential to draw packaging business from larger companies outside of Washington County. "ey wouldn't need to have a physical pres- ence here," she says. "ey'd send their product and Downeast Packaging Solutions would package it and get it out in a timely fashion. He has a fantastic facility that they can do so much with, with so many business." Downeast Packaging's growth, in turn, would bring more jobs, she continues. "ere's a big population of seasonal workers here," she says. "If there's a way for him to keep them on, that would be great." She continues, "Job creation is always huge — good-paying jobs that keep people here. People want to stay here, but sometimes they can't if they can't find that job that will keep them here. If there are more people working, there are more people staying. It's a huge benefit for our area all the way around." Whitney has no intention of shying away from the wreath business. "But we're really leaning into the Downeast Packaging Solutions business," he says. He adds, "We like to say we're a really good dance partner and we're looking for more dance partners. ere's somebody in the state of Maine that's going to bulge this building." L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r , M a i n e b i z s e n i o r w r i t e r , c a n b e r e a c h e d a t l s c h r e i b e r @ m a i n e b i z . b i z CDL DRIVERS ROCHESTER PORTLAND AUBURN BRUNSWICK BOOTHBAY HARBOR DAMARISCOTTA BELGRADE FARMINGTON SKOWHEGAN FAIRFIELD GREENVILLE CALAIS BANGOR BUCKSPORT BELFAST CAMDEN ROCKLAND ELLSWORTH BLUE HILL BAR HARBOR CHERRYFIELD MACHIAS AUBURN • BANGOR • BAR HARBOR • BELFAST • BELGRADE • BLUE HILL • BOOTHBAY HARBOR • BRUNSWICK • BUCKSPORT • CALAIS • CAMDEN • CHERRYFIELD DAMARISCOTTA • ELLSWORTH • FAIRFIELD • FARMINGTON • GREENVILLE • MACHIAS • PORTLAND • ROCHESTER (NH) • ROCKLAND • SKOWHEGAN 22 LOCATIONS ACROSS MAINE & NEW HAMPSHIRE 1 - 8 0 0 - H A M M O N D W W W . H A M M O N D L U M B E R . C O M R E A D Y T O P I V O T W H E N E V E R Y O U R J O B D O E S . F O C U S P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y W Y M A N ' S O F M A I N E Patrick Carroll, Wyman's director of marketing, says Downeast Packaging provides cost-effective solutions to ship products.

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